Spread Her Wings
by wevans01
Summary: The people feared the Titans. They lock themselves in cages and tell themselves the monsters have won. One young woman refused to believe that. She will journey beyond the safety of her cage and prove them wrong or die trying.


_**AN**: Hey guys, this will be the first story I post on . I've done some creative writing in my spare time and thought this would be a great way to get a chance to see what people think of my writing. Any advice and tips would be greatly appreciated._

_Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the story._

* * *

**_Year 844 _**

"Don't do this, please!"

Her mother wailed brokenly as she averted her eyes and hardened her heart. She had made her choice and now she had to see it through to the very end. The pain tore at her resolve and no matter how much she wanted to see her parents for what could possibly be the last time, she knew she could not.

One look back would have been enough to convince her that what she was about to do was stupid and suicidal.

"You want adventure, my child? Is that what you want?"

She paused, for just an instant, before resuming her packing as her father frantically plead with her. Her father's hair was starting to gray and his body was weakening, but his eyes and mind were as sharp as ever. That one instant of hesitation was all it took to push his mind back from acceptance and into full-blown bargaining once more.

"How about we go to the mountains," her father half yelled in panic. "Or…or…or how about the forest with the giant trees? You loved that place when you were young."

She paused her packing and closed her eyes. Taking a deep, a shaky, breath, she turned to look her father in the eyes. His normally regal features had crumbled into disarray. His usually well-maintained hair was a mess and his once clean shaven face now hosted a scrubby beard. His skin had lost most of its color and, combined with the dark bags around his eyes, made him look like a corpse.

Her breath caught in her throat and she felt tears run down her cheeks. It took all her willpower to not shove away her small pack and run to embrace her father.

"I'm…not a child anymore, father."

She wanted to tell him more but her throat refused to continue and she had to choke back sobs. She quickly averted her eyes and returned to shoving the few personal items she wanted to bring with her into the sturdy pack. They were nothing fancy, just several sets of underclothing, and two changes of clothing.

"You placed at the top of your graduating class," her father desperately argued. "You were ranked first in a class of a hundred others. You could have chosen any posting in the entire Military Police."

As she closed her bag and hefted it over her shoulder, her father immediately placed himself between her and the door. From the corner of her eye, she saw her mother slumped over her bed while two servants tried in vain to comfort her.

"You don't even have to serve under my command," her father reassured her as she gently walked around him while avoiding eye contact. "You just name a district and I'll get you in there."

She left the room she had lived in for her whole life before she had joined the academy. The hallway was eerily deserted as the rest of the house staff hid in their rooms for fear of intruding on private family matters.

Her father chased after her down the grand stairs into the lobby before planting himself in front of the double doors of the estate.

The look in his eyes was unlike anything she had ever seen on his face. The pain and fear burning behind them broke her heart, but, somehow, she pushed onward.

Then, her father did something she never thought she would see.

He dropped to his knees and planted his forehead onto the tip of her boot.

"I'm begging you," her father whispered softly. "Please don't throw your life away just to chase some naïve fantasy."

She stood, paralyzed, in the lobby of her former home as she saw just what she had reduced her father to.

"You haven't seen what those monsters are capable of," her father continued as he looked up at his daughter. "You haven't been there to see what the Survey Corp is like every time they return from one of their expeditions."

She did not know how to respond and what she should do.

Her heart and mind told her to throw away her bags and beg forgive from her parents. But, a small part of her, curiosity or pride or madness, she did not know, urged her onward. There were a million things she wanted to say but her mind blanked out whenever she tried to focus on one.

She had prepared a short speech to give to her parents and even wrote a letter, which was currently stuffed somewhere into her trash bin. She had even practiced the speech in private, but now, nothing came to mind.

What was she going to do?

She knelt down and pulled her father up. Tears were streaming down his face and puddled on the stone floor.

"Dad," she whispered while forcing a smile onto her face. "No matter what happens, just remember that I love you and Mom. I'll make you proud, I swear. Tell Mom that I love her."

Saying those words was like having a massive weight lifted from her mind. She could feel her emotions return under control and remembered exactly why she was doing this.

Humankind was like a caged animal waiting to be slaughtered.

Doing nothing would only led to a slow and agonizing death.

Only by taking risks, and being willing to throw away everything for even the smallest chance at victory, could mankind ever hope to move behind the walls and reclaim what was once theirs.

She wanted more than this cage and she wanted more than losing all the time.

So, without another word, Bethany Sinclair rose from the floor and left her home behind.

* * *

**_Year 845_**

She awakened to the sound of birds and the trembling of the ground.

Rubbing her eyes, Bethany threw the green cloak she had been using as sheets over her shoulder and rose to her feet. The first rays of crimson sunlight were leaking through the dirty windows of the house she had chosen to spend the night in.

She estimated that she had maybe half an hour until most the beasts became active.

Moving to the basement window, she looked outside to confirm that the rumbling was instead what she thought it was.

Sure enough, off in the distant countryside, shambled one of them.

A big one, judging by the distance markers she had set up. The beast had to be at least seven meter tall, with their usual disgusting and misshapen body. The thing had brown fur and its hide was a raw pink.

Its goofy looking face was dominated by a massive jaw that seemed to stretch around its entire head. Its blank eyes told her all she needed to know.

Just a normal beast wondering through, not an anomaly.

She briefly toyed with the idea of adding another mark to her tally, but quickly decided it was not worth the trouble.

The beast could attract others of its kind and she would have to abandon her hideout. It was hard to find a building still standing outside the walls and she disliked living in caves.

Reaching into her pack, she sighed when she saw what she had left to eat.

"Looks like it's time for another trip to the woods, buddy," she muttered to her sole traveling companion. "The rabbit jerky is all gone. I hope you're stuffed, Phoenix, you lazy-bone."

She smiled as she strapped on her equipment and stretched her stiff limbs.

"Oh well, I could use some exercise before the fun starts," she joked as she turned to glance at her friend. "You're not still hungry, are you?"

The red and silver feathered falcon gave her a funny look before flying onto her shoulder and giving her a happy squawk.

"Yea, well, next time, go hunt your own food," she jokingly reprimanded him. "It's like you have to worry about those things."

Silently moving up the decaying but stable wooden stairs to the ground level, Bethany glanced around her shelter. She had found the building on one of her earlier outings and had been utilizing it ever since as a base of operations.

Boxes full of 3D Maneuvering Gear fuel filled the abandoned rooms. Stacks and stacks of fresh blades lined the walls. Crates of preserved food and water were stacked neatly in the kitchen.

It was a hub from which she created supply caches to help support the expeditions by her comrades inside the walls.

"We have a big day today," she whispered softly to her companion while strapping on her personal gear. "There's just one more supply cache we have to set up before we have to report back."

Phoenix watched her curiously but chose not to reply.

Bethany sighed in sadness as she tied down her equipment and wrapped a piece of green cloth around her head. She pulled her dirty blonde ponytail through an opening in the back and slid a pair of goggles over her head.

"Ready to get started?"

The falcon replied with an enthusiastic squawk and spread his wings in anticipation.

* * *

The last supply cache was almost two and an half kilometers away from the safe house. The route between them had been a small town once, with roads and abandoned farm houses every several hundred meters. Most of the buildings had been destroyed over a century ago. Precious crops and farm animals that were worth a fortune in the walls sat around with no one to claim them.

It was within the overgrown wheat field that Bethany silently moved.

Along the road a good distance behind her, a single horse pulled a small cart stacked full of medical supplies, food, water, weapons and fuel slowly moved down the dirt path. High overhead, Phoenix soared through the sky, on lookout for any of the beasts that might take an interest.

As she crawled, dashed and edged her way toward her destination, Bethany continuously recorded everything of note down on her hand-drawn map of the entire region. She marked the ruins that could provide emergency shelter, the ditches that could serve as hiding spots and streams that could provide drinking water.

Every hundred meters, she would put her fingers to her lips and signal the horse with the direction she was headed in. The whistle resembled a bird's call and her trusty stead had been trained to recognize it.

Slowly and carefully, she led the supply cart down the road until she came within sight of her target.

A large stone windmill whose arms had long since broken off, but whose general structure was still intact. The large stones used in its construction were sturdy enough to withstand the passage of time without much more than some cracks and overgrown weeds.

She had already scouted most of the town and identified this structure as the most suitable location to stash emergency supplies. The tower allowed whoever had to take shelter within a good view of kilometers of the surrounding countryside. There were no windows on the lower level and the wooden door was still usable.

All in all, a perfect place to rest, regroup and treat any injuries while on the run from the Titans.

Bethany moved to the edge of the clearing around the structure and marked the location on her map before stashing the precious information into her jacket. A sharp whistle brought her horse up the road and toward their destination.

That's when she heard Phoenix's cry from overhead.

She immediately threw herself down onto the ground and glanced upward. Her companion was circling above her in a formation directed South-South-East. Poking her head out of the field, Bethany's eyes narrowed at what she saw.

One of the smaller beasts was heading north toward Wall Maria some two hundred meters parallel of the road in the other direction.

Normally, she would just ignore the creature and continue with her mission. There was really no point in chasing something so far away that was also moving away from her. She was also out in the open, with no objects to allow her to employ her gear.

Unfortunately, this particular creature was too dangerous to be allowed to live.

The beast was thin with a coat of yellow fur along its head and its skin was a light shade of red with patches of muscle exposed. Its mouth was hanging open, revealing a row of fangs the length of swords and a long tongue dangling like that of a dog.

The thing moved slowly like any other Titan, but instead of shambling around on its legs, this one crawled along on the ground on all fours. Its long limbs were twisting and moving in a way no human could hope to imitate.

She had seen its kind before.

It was an anomaly.

She had seen just how fast they could move and how high they could leap. She had seen its kind climb mountains, trees and even buildings.

She could not let it reach the wall.

A smile wormed its way onto her face and she giggled slightly in excitement.

She glanced back at the cart to confirm that the horse had stopped in front of the windmill. She did not have time to unload the supplies and get into position to ambush the beast at the same time. Fortunately, she trusted her steed and knew he would wait patiently until his mistress called.

Silently, she drew two of her blades and loaded them onto her gear controls. Lying low, she moved toward the unsuspecting beast as it crawled leisurely through the field, unaware of the deadly predator that was now stalking it.

The creature shook the earth with each strode it took. She had no doubt that if it was moving at full speed, she would never be able to catch up to it at her present pace. Fortunately, the beast seemed to be in no hurry, as it paused every dozen meters to glance around it curiously like a giant dog.

As she moved closer, a plan of attack had already formed in her mind. She still had the element of surprise, so her favorite way to kill the beasts would work. The fact that it was crawler complicated things a little bit but not too much.

The foul coppery stench of blood and the sickeningly sweet aroma of decaying flesh was thick in the air by the time she was within ten meters of the creature. It had its back toward her with its legs spread perpendicular to its body and parallel with its arms.

She paused as she calculated the reach of blades before licking her lips in anticipation of the kill. Twirling her blade once for luck, she jumped into action.

The dumb beast reacted fast, much faster than any normal Titan. It immediately sensed her presence and lowered its massive head to look at her beneath its torso.

Before it could take stock of the situation, she was already dashing directly toward it. The creature hung low to the ground, but its massive size allowed her just enough height to run full speed between its legs and strike simultaneously with both her swords.

The specialized blades sliced through the beast's knee ligaments with ease and continued forward with her body's momentum. The animal was too stupid to even notice either its crippling injury or the pain of her attack.

It looked at her with that same dopey expression and curled its lips upward like a smile, revealing rows of fangs dripping with saliva. The stench of decay and blood was nauseating, and even more so when it roared, sending drool and chunks of rotting meat flying toward her.

The creature tried to shuffle away so it could attack her with either its forearms or jaw, but its hind-legs gave out and it began to topple to its side.

Bethany narrowed her eyes as she focused on completing her maneuver instead of the fact that she was about to be crushed by the falling creature. It had barely been a second since she attacked but it felt like hours. Time slowed down as she focused on the creature's shoulder muscles and the position of its gaping maw.

It would be embarrassing if she ran head first into its mouth.

The creature raised its left arm and tried to swat her, but she nimbly tumbled over the clumsy strike and then used the momentum to slide underneath the creature's lowered head.

Sunlight washed over her as she emerged from under the colossal beast an instant before it crashed to the ground. Rolling to her feet, she dashed up the creature's head and landed between its shoulder blades.

Two quick slashes and the fight was already over.

She panted and shook as the adrenaline slowly washed out of her system. The fight had been short and precise, just the way she preferred. She raised a shaking hand and ripped the burning blood stained cloth and goggles off her face.

Then she laughed as she planted her boot on the nip of the creature's neck and playfully twirled her blade over the beast's one vital spot.

"When are you monsters going learn?"

She made a shallow incision in its neck but not deep enough to be fatal.

The creature tried to thrash its torso and limbs to dislocate her, but she quickly secured herself into place with her gear. The beast tried to twist its head around to look at her but could not manage it. As far as she could tell, the thing had did not even notice pain.

"Do you really think you're the masters of this world?" She taunted arrogantly as she kept half an eye on the incision into the creature's shoulders. "You're nothing more than animals."

She paused before smiling wickedly.

"No, not even animals," she corrected herself in a mocking tone. "Animals are smart enough to know fear."

The creatures were certainly tough, if not intelligent, she noted. The wounds were already starting to close and she probably had around ten seconds before the thing's legs healed.

"I'm going to wipe that stupid smile off your face," she declared as she felt the beast's hind-legs begin to rise.

She positioned her blades before turning her attention to the beast's eyes.

Even now, at the end of its life, the creature's ugly face still bore the stupid smiling expression as it tried to twist its head around to bite her.

"You'll be the fifteenth beast I've slaughtered," she informed it with a smile. "You should feel honored."

Then she struck.


End file.
